


Music Thursdays

by Mendeia



Series: Proximity to Balance [3]
Category: Gundam Wing
Genre: Gen, One Shot
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-04-15
Updated: 2013-04-15
Packaged: 2017-12-08 13:32:14
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 746
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/761888
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Mendeia/pseuds/Mendeia
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>It was, as most things were, mainly Duo's fault.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Music Thursdays

**Author's Note:**

> Meant to get this up yesterday – sorry! Also, it's amazing what you can learn about a very common song from Wikipedia, including additional (and helpful) extra verses.
> 
> Enjoy!

It was, as most things were, mainly Duo's fault.

But not in the usual way things that were Duo's fault were his fault per se. The time the blender on L2 got clogged after an ill-advised incident involving motor oil and everything they put in it afterwards came out as a certain amount of grey sludge – that was Duo's fault. The mix-up of toiletries that left Wufei with a thick green streak in the hair at his temple – that was definitely Duo's fault and it probably wasn't an accident.

No, this time it was something else entirely.

Although Quatre could have afforded a full complement of servants, chefs, butlers, laundresses, and the like to follow the five of them around as they moved throughout the Earth Sphere on missions, mostly the five pilots preferred to act for themselves (not to mention that a corp of servants would stick out like a Gundam in the back-streets and shadowy neighborhoods where they made their safehouses). So they eschewed Quatre's lavish homes rather often and instead took up temporary residence in smaller apartments and crash-houses and did their own cleaning and laundry and such in turns.

This particular Thursday, it was Duo's night to serve as master cook, so he was standing alone in the kitchen chopping vegetables for a quick stir fry. As he would have said himself, Duo could hardly be responsible for keeping track of what-all his brain was doing at any given point in time, and didn't realize at first that he was singing an old song he'd learned from the Maxwell Church.

> "' _Tis a gift to be simple, 'tis a gift to be free,  
> _ ' _Tis a gift to come down where you ought to be._ "

He'd been through it several times without realizing until, as he moved into the next line, a soft tenor voice rose up in counterpoint.

> " _And when we find ourselves in the place just right,  
> _ ' _Twill be in the valley of love and delight._ "

Duo whirled in place to see Quatre smiling gently. The blond winked and nodded, and the L2 orphan realized how odd and wonderful it was for the two of them, prince and pauper, to both understand the song so well.

> " _When true simplicity is gained  
>  To bow and to bend we shan't be ashamed.  
> To turn, turn 'twill be our delight  
> _' _Til by turning, turning we come 'round right._ "

They began the song again, Quatre shifting his harmony slightly and beginning to chop the carrots Duo had just finished washing. They moved around one another in the small kitchen, cooking and singing softly until another sound joined them.

It was Trowa, with a little harmonica.

By the time Wufei and Heero came to see what was happening with dinner, the three of them had added so many layers of overtones and runs and trills, with Duo stubbornly singing the melody in its unvarnished fashion, that the song was completely new and not at all simple anymore. They stopped when they realized the food was actually finished and joined the other two without even a little shame – what was there to be embarrassed about in front of people who had seen them do so much worse?

But a week later, when it was Heero's turn to fold laundry, he found himself accompanied by the trio. And the week after that, when Wufei was cleaning the weaponry, they sat across from him, continuing it. They sometimes tried other songs, but somehow the same one found its way back into a harmony or a transition. Duo even used it as a signal pulse to confirm that all was well when his communicator was damaged.

So when they returned to L4 and took a few days at Quatre's largest house, Thursday afternoon saw all five in the conservatory. Quatre took up his beloved violin, Trowa opted for the flute again, and Wufei, to everyone's surprise, settled himself at the piano. Heero, it turned out, had never learned anything musical at all, so Duo began teaching him to keep a beat on a hand-drum. For an hour, they weren't killers and ex-terrorists and Preventers agents. They were five young men relearning the simple things.

> " _'Tis the gift to have friends and a true friend to be,_  
>  'Tis the gift to think of others, not to only think of 'me,'  
> And when we hear what others really think and really feel,  
> Then we'll all live together with a love that is real."


End file.
